This year’s conference of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), “a scholarly, non-political, non-profit professional association open to all persons interested in Asia and the study of Asia” was held in Philadelphia from March 25 to 28, 2010. I had the occasion to participate in a similar conference held in 2008 and to present a paper then, which I titled “From Tsampa Eaters to Political Symbol: Evolution of Tibetan Identity in Tibet and Outside.” Tibet was very much a visible part of that year’s conference. Therefore, I looked at this year’s conference to see how Tibet fared. Lo and behold, out of the 282 sessions in the “China and Inner Asia Panels” there were five that dealt with Tibet. The following are details about those panels that are available on the AAS website.

Session 46: The Politics of Ethnicity in China
Rule of law in China’s ethnic regions: What happens when State and local laws conflict?, Katherine Kaup
“We are all part of the same family”: China’s ethnic propaganda, Anne-Marie Brady
From multinationalism to multiculturalism: New liberal logics and the National Regional Autonomy Framework in the PRC, Tashi Rabgey
Reflections on the course of China’s policies on ethnicity, from 1949 to the present day, Binghao Jin

Session 102: ‘Reconstructing’ Religion: Modernization and Tibetan Buddhism in Sino-Tibetan Areas During the Republican Period
Horizons of Scientia: Tibetan Buddhist Scholars on Sciences in the Republican Era, Nicole Willock
Xuan Xiafu: A Chinese for the Tibetans, Paul Nietupski
‘Reconstructing’ Tibetan Buddhism: Li Anzhai and the development of Modern Education in Labrang Monastery., Andres Rodriguez

Session 127: States of Marginality: Statehood, Sovereignty, and the Person Among Tibetans in the PRC and Beyond
Imperial Borderland/Socialist State: Authority, Sovereignty and the Closing of the Frontier in 1950s Northeastern Amdo, Benno Weiner
House-building, Development and Sovereignty in Tibet , Emily T. Yeh
The Abstract State: Dilemmas of Sovereignty and Scale Among Tibetans in China, Charlene E. Makley